The rapped kids |
A man who delighted in defiling about eight children in Ipaja-Ayobo area of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria has been arrested by the police. He is now being detained, awaiting arraignment in court.
The
suspect, Mr. Temitope Alo was arrested on Saturday at Koloba area of Ayobo
after the children allegedly confessed that he had raped them.
The
eight victims, whose ages range from eight to 15 years were brought to the Lagos
State Ministry of Women Affairs and
Poverty Alleviation, WAPA yesterday by the Vice
Chairman, Ipaja-Ayobo Local
Council Development Area, LCDA, Alhaja
Falilat Ajijola to enable the state government to take over the case.
The
victim said he works for a newspaper company (name withheld) in Lagos and
allegedly lured the children to his apartment where he defiled them and
threatened to kill them if they reported the matter.
Tests
conducted on the eight children at the Ayobo-Ipaja Primary Health Centre, PHC,
showed that the children had been defiled.
A
top official of the WAPA Ministry said that the ministry had been handling rape
cases but they had never recorded a case
where a man serially raped eight children.
The
news of the rape caused a stir at the WAPA ministry as the staff rained curses
on the alleged rapist.
According
to the Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA Vice Chairman, Ajijola, last week a case of rape was
reported to the Neighbourhood Watch
office at the council but when enquiries were made, the traditional ruler of
Koloba was said to have denied that such
a thing happened in his area.
She
said a few days later, the former council chairman of Ayobo-Ipaja, Bisi Yusuf
reported that the incident actually
happened and that further investigation traced the rape case to the culprit,
who was promptly arrested.
Ajijola
added that the traditional ruler, Chief Babayanju, later opened up and admitted
that the story was true, while eight
children came forward to report that they were allegedly raped by Alo.
The
vice chairman said the children were taken to the PHC in the area where tests
were conducted on them and it was
confirmed that the children had been defiled.
Two
children of a community leader in the area were among the victims.
Chairman,
Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA, Alhaji Shakiru Adisa Yusuf said he was shocked when he heard
the story, adding that such a person is
worse than an animal.
“I
was shocked because I am also a parent. Why must he go after innocent children?
Such people should not live in this community,”
he said, adding that the council would pursue the case to ensure that justice
was done.
“We
will collect the tests conducted on the children and hand them over to the
state government. We will pursue the
case to a logical conclusion. This man has brought disgrace to this community,”
he said.
Acting
Director, Child Development, WAPA Ministry, Mrs Mosunmola Dada said the issue
was disgusting, adding that such a man
must be a paedophile and vowed that the government would ensure that he was
prosecuted.
“We
have evidences against him. The Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA has a medical report on this
case. We will monitor and follow up this
case,” she said.
The
suspect, in his statement at the Ayobo Police Station, was said to have
admitted that he raped some children,
but that he only raped four and not eight.
P.M.NEWS
could not get to him as he was in custody of the police, while the Divisional
Police Officer, DPO of the station was
not around for comments.
One
of the victims, an eight years old girl (name withheld) told P.M.NEWS that the
suspect told them to help him arrange
newspapers in his apartment, adding that, “after that, he told us to go into
the next room.
“He
asked us to remove our panties and I asked him what he wanted to do to us. He
laid me on the bed and defiled me four
times. He covered our mouths with white handkerchief and threatened to kill us
if we report,” she said.
Another
victim, a 12 years old girl (name withheld) alleged that the suspect “licked my
private part. He called me and my friend
in. He asked me to bring N100 fufu for him, which I brought. While I was
waiting for the money with my friend, he
asked my friend whether she could keep a secret.
“He
asked me to pull off my panties but I did not answer and he forced me and
licked my private part while he slept
with my friend and defiled her too. He gave us N50. I told my friend that I
will tell my mummy, but he threatened to
kill us if we told anybody.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave Your Comment Here